Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big fan of anything in the realm of science fiction and speculative fiction. Even though this novel is more a thriller set in the future, and therefore a technothriller playing within a science fiction space, Judy L. Mohr‘s Dancing in the Purple Rain is a vivid, engaging story taking us deep into a layered sci-fi world with wisps of familiarity drawn from our present day. The novel follows Michaella (whom many people call Mike), a strong female protagonist with extraordinary abilities, as she struggles to find her place in the remnants of human society controlled by a once benevolent, but deeply corrupt, corporation. The story pits her against not only the shadowy figures at the top, including the secretive Pregutor, but also the fragile boundaries of reality itself. When technology is advanced enough to bend memory and manipulate truth, who knows what is real and what is fabricated? This is a major challenge Mike is up against.
I feel one of the novel’s greatest strengths, and one of its most apparent strengths from the very first scene, is its accessibility. Mohr’s worldbuilding in this sci-fi thriller is seamless and easy to settle into. The technology used, and terms to describe them, feel native and natural to the story and the reader, with complexities making them interesting and intriguing but never alienating enough to pull a reader like me out of the story. In some science fiction books I’ve previously read, technical jargon and seemingly-magical technology can divert my thoughts away from the story at hand; however, Dancing in the Purple Rain draws you and keeps you there. It compels you to keep reading, always wondering, “What’s going to happen next?” As the stakes ramp up, I found myself mulling over each twist long after putting the book down. The clarity of the world and its technology felt important for a reader like me who is recovering from a dissociative disorder, which can bypass some comprehension skills when challenged with concepts too foreign.
And this is where I found another strength I loved. Mohr employs a “Russian doll” narrative structure (Matryoshka) in sections of Dancing in the Purple Rain: memories within memories, nestled inside one another. What is real? What isn’t? This can mirror the effects of some aspects of dissociation well, and this aspect really drew me in. The layering forces the reader to question the authenticity of Mike’s experiences, which, to me, echoed the way powerful forces in our own world today can bend, reframe, and obscure truth. The parallels to social media and other influential organizations manipulation of information today are hard to miss and give Dancing in the Purple Rain a timely, thought-provoking edge. This, I feel, slots Dancing in the Purple Rain into categories like social commentary science fiction and speculative fiction about corporate corrpuption.
For me, Mike herself is a compelling sci-fi hero, who is resilient in the face of the increasing odds she is facing, questions what is presented to her as truth, and willing to shove back (sometimes softly, sometimes harder) against the system to find what is true. A cast of other compelling characters surround her, which also enriches this world and makes it feel fuller. One minor niggle I have—and I feel it’s a good niggle to have!—is that I wished we learned more about some of the characters (Tam and George, for example). It’s probably a selfish wish, and I know Mohr had to work within a word count, but I wanted to know more.
In saying this, I felt the motivations (while sometimes murky!) of the core cast and many of the secondary characters kept the tension within Dancing in the Purple Rain taut. It kept me wanting to continue to read.
The ending comes quickly and, without hopefully supplying any spoilers, leans in one direction, which is somewhat reframed in the epilogue. I understand the importance of the epilogue setting up the premise for possible future installments within the Dancing in the Purple Rain universe, I personally felt it might have more impact if the ending were more ambiguous. Think the ending of Gregory Maguire’s Wicked. That said, again, that’s a minor gripe in an otherwise remarkable tale.
In the end, Dancing in the Purple Rain delivers an exciting, layered narrative blending an accessible yet dystopian future world with sharp thematic undercurrents and mystery upon mystery for Mike to solve throughout. It asks us to explore what is real and what isn’t, challenge authority where that authority may be oppressive, propaganda-focused, or unjust, and imagine what the truth is beneath layers upon layers of stories we are told.
Dancing in the Purple Rain is a confident and compelling debut sci-fi technothriller from Judy L. Mohr, one that will appeal to fans of science fiction, speculative fiction, and thrillers who enjoy a blend of entertainment, accessibility, action, mystery-upon-mystery, and thoughtful social commentary in fiction reflecting some of the challenges we face today.
Judy L. Mohr’s Dancing in the Purple Rain is available from:
Scott Andrew Fack 
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